What were you listening to? (CLOSED)

[PaulR]

Gossec: Symphony in Eb Major op. 12 no. 5

[Bogey]

This week's cantata:

Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata #147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben" BWV 147
Montreal Baroque / Eric Milnes
Monika Mauch, soprano
Matthew White, countertenor
Charles Daniels, tenor
Stephan MacLeod, bass
ATMA 2402 

The past few weeks have been dissapointing with the performances selected by Sacred Classics for the Bach Cantata portion of the show.  However, this one was very nicely performed.  The disc of this also includes BWV 1 and 82 which I do not own, so it just went on my wish list.

[PaulR]

Brahms: Symphony #1 in C minor Sawallisch/LPO

[Harry]

John Gardner

Overture: Midsummer Ale, opus 73.
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat major, opus 34.
Symphony No. 1 opus 2.

Peter Donohoe, Piano.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/David Lloyd Jones.

Never heard of him, but this highly contrasting music on this cd convinced me, he is a figure to watch. The "Midsummer Ale", is a fun piece, and well scored. The Piano Concerto is a different matter, deeply introverted music, with a occasional exuberance, but mostly vague and misty music. That is not a negative thing though, but more a description of how the music feels. Donohoe, is a superb pianist, that makes quite a good job out of this concerto, and you should not miss this. Also this cd I played many times, I seem wanting to do that, returning to music, rather than pushing forwards. Well the piles stays bigger that way, but what the heck....
The Symphony is a work full of contrasts and extremes, but all very tonal. He is more distinctive in this work, as in the piano concerto....
A long work lasting 40 odd minutes, but its worth you attention.
The recording made by Phil Rowlands is stunning. Naxos made a good choice in this ongoing piano series.

[Drasko]

[Lilas Pastia]

Revelatory performances of Beethoven's concertos 4 and 5 with Arthur Schoonwoerden and the Cristofori ensemble.


This extraordinary disc has already been much touted in those pages, and thanks to all the hoopla I was moved into buying it.

It pushes the limits of HIP to its inner and outer limits. I've not heard a performance  that so completely espouses the performing conditions Beethoven may have known in his day. The extremely perceptive notes mention that the fourth concerto was premiered in the music room of Prince Lobkowitz' viennese palace. The room measurements are: 16m x 7m with 7.5m high ceilings. 24 musicians could assemble on the platform and there was seating for an audience of 18 . Consequently, given the instrumentation, strings had to number only a handful of players (pianoforte, winds, brass and timpani occupying the rest of the space).

Further to these spatial and instrumental requirements, Schoonderwoerd mentions that such a small enclosure allowed for resonating and brightly lit acoustical conditions, so that a pair of violins or cellos projected and cut through the full texture without any problem. Well, that assumption is magnificently brought out in this recording (although it's not recorded in the Lobkowitz room). Also, manuscripts and early copies of the concertos have a figured bass part, implying that the piano effectively participated in the orchestral commentaries. The sonic fabric is so entirely different as to make any comparison game entirely futile. These are essentially new, totally different works than what one hears in modern performances. The bigger piano and large orchestra were brought by Liszt; his championiong helped ressuscitate Beethoven's concertos, which had disappeared from the concert scene after Beethoven's death.

I have to say that the result convinces more in 4 than in 5. The latter work is on a grander scale, and that is attained through longer musical phrases, more emphatic rythms, and it suggests an altogether bigger soundstage. Performing conditions were still the same when it was composed, so it can be argued that Beethoven was pushing the limits of his time's musical conventions. Whatever the reason, there is less stylistic difference between this authentic performance of the Emperor than the ones that were to come. The more linear musical discourse and bigger paragraphs seem better suited to the modern concert grand and large orchestra than the intimate, harmonically quirky G major work. Indeed, in this work I was often reminded of the kind of unsettled, questing and angst-ridden gestures familiar from C.P.E Bach's own keyboard works.

Schoonderwoerd plays and conducts brilliantly. His viennese 1810 pianoforte has a rather clangorous upper range, so that rapidfire passagework in the treble sometimes sound like a carillon. OTOH it has a big, tight and densely focused bass that revels in Beethoven's powerful left-hand writing. Magnificent!

[Wanderer]

A great review, Lilas!


Listening to:

Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (Barenboim).

[not edward]

PB and the Clevelanders in excellent fettle.

[Harry]

Listening to:

Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte (Barenboim).

I have this set as long as I can remember, and think it still one of the best.
Enjoy Tasos.

[ChamberNut]

Brahms: Symphony #1 in C minor Sawallisch/LPO

Oh yes!!  This is the set I have.    My favorite Brahms' symphony is the # 1.  The very beginning, the first movement, lifts the hair on my arms!  It is as if Brahms is saying "Yes, I finally have my 1st symphony ready.....and here it is!"

[ChamberNut]

From the library today, I took out 5 CD's, including this J.S. Bach Great Organ Works, Decca label, Peter Hurford on the organ!

[Bogey]

On the radio while I continue a marathon of wrapping gifts:

Antonin Dvorak: Cello Concerto in b Op 104
Berlin Philharmonic / George Szell
Pierre Fournier, cello
Deutsche Grammophon 423881 

[karlhenning]

Pyotr Ilyich
Romeo & Juliet Fantasy-Overture
SFSO / Ozawa

[Bogey]

Outstanding music/performance here.  My first Rosetti disc, but now not my last.  Thank you very much Harry and hope you have a duplicate of these recordings tucked away in a CPO box set.  

[The new erato]

  My favorite Brahms' symphony is the # 1.  The very beginning, the first movement, lifts the hair on my arms!  It is as if Brahms is saying "Yes, I finally have my 1st symphony ready.....and here it is!"

My favorite as well, and for the same reason.

[val]

BERLIOZ:     Harod in Italy        / Christ, BPO, Maazel

A version with a beautiful sound, a good sense of the details, but with no enthusiasm. As usual with Maazel, the plastic beauty seems the most important.

I remain faithful to Toscanini, Beecham, Markevitch and Gardiner.

[Que]

Q

[gmstudio]

So far not holding up to the Starker that I grew up with, but crisp and fine nonetheless. He's great, technique-wise, but he's not bringing anything "extra" to the table here.

[Harry]

Outstanding music/performance here.  My first Rosetti disc, but now not my last.  Thank you very much Harry and hope you have a duplicate of these recordings tucked away in a CPO box set.  

I have...I have, not to worry!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I have...I have, not to worry!

[OT - how did your visit to the doctor go, Harry?]